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It had happened so fast.
Jonny had been walking through the Aurora aimlessly, looking for alcohol or something interesting happening in whatever godforsaken corner of the ship he could find. He’d just gotten to the main cargo hold, with the stacks of boxes, airlocks on the walls and-
“Ngh- Jonny- Run -” It was Nastya’s voice, like she was in pain.
He’d turned, only to see Ashes’ body. Purple and grey from suffocation. But that didn’t make sense , their mechanism couldn’t have just-
And then he looked up, and locked eyes with Dr. Carmilla.
And he felt his heart stop.
Alive again, now he didn’t know how long she’d been talking. It all blurred together after a while.
A real blast from the past. Back when he’d had no choice but to stand there and provide moral support for her megalomaniacal fits of monologuing, surreptitiously cleaning his nails and trying to give himself an aneurysm just so he could be free of the Romantic- not ‘romantic’- mad scientist for a moment. For the longest time, he'd never even thought of escaping, or getting rid of the doc in some way. They all knew what happened if you tried it.
And now, millions of years in the past later, here he was again, standing between the doc and Nastya as if that protected anyone, with Ashes, now revived, still choking on their own breath and Brian trapped in his body, immobile. Ivy on the floor. He didn’t know where Raphaella was, or Marius or Tim or the Toy Soldier, but he hoped so desperately that they got out of the Aurora before the doc saw them. His mechanical heart stuttered in his chest.
She continued to talk.
“And Jonny! I mean, what have you done to the theming?! The new album, with an in-universe narrator? And the finale songs were absolute narrative chaos , not even the leitmotifs could save it!” She shook her head with a soft laugh. “But that's enough about the state of your music. Now, the state of your mechanism… that’s another matter.”
She didn’t even bother to move his shirt out of the way.
That’s the only thought he had as her needle-sharp fingernails ripped into his chest. His heart, his mechanism, at the moment acting as his jailor and curse, didn’t stop beating. And he didn’t lose consciousness.
His ribs cracking and falling to the floor, Carmilla wrapped her hand around his heart.
Veins and arteries tore and re-formed as she examined it, turning from side to side to check every gear, wire, and screw.
“It was… a delicate balance, attempting to install behavioural failsafes without completely obliterating the original personality. It was a balance I thought I had achieved. ” She squeezed harder, just for a moment, and Jonny’s thoughts were derailed entirely by a blinding flash of pain.
“But apparently not. Well, it doesn't matter. We have all the time in the world, don't we?" She braced her hand against his chest, ready to kill him, and that was when-
“GET DOWN, YOU THIRD-RATE EXCUSE FOR A MAD SCIENTIST!”
Raphaella burst out of the vents like an avenging angel. Carmilla tore her hand away from Jonny’s chest with a surprised shout, hair flying wildly.
“What?! Who- I didn’t make you! Who the hell are- ”
“Raphaella la Cognizi!” She roared. “The one that made perfect what you hadn’t! I built my own Mechanism from scratch, I will not be controlled, and you will step away from my friends!”
“What are you even- No, you said you mechanised yourself? Fascinating!" She dodged a wild punch from Raphaella and moved closer, spinning around to grab at her wings. “Give me a moment, this is rather-”
The giant metal wings reared back.
Carmilla flew across the room, impacting on the wall with a dull thud.
“Toy Soldier!” Nastya shouted from behind Jonny. “Help!”
“Yes! I Am Helping!” Wait, where the hell had it come from?
Nastya couldn’t have specified the kind of help, even if she’d tried. The bioprogramming was too thorough. But the Toy Soldier seemed to get the point.
It ran over, gun already blazing. Carmilla recoiled at the hail of bullets, pulling Raphaella in front of her to act as a meat shield.
“Hey, what’s-”
Tim and Marius, entering at the exact wrong time. Ashes struggled to their feet, waving wildly first at them, then at Carmilla and Raphaella, still fighting, then at the airlock. They wheezed out a puff of smoke and something that sounded vaguely like ‘ throw’ .
“Fuck! Okay!”
Marius threw himself into the fray, as Tim helped Ivy up and Brian strained against his own body.
Admittedly, Carmilla seemed visibly worse for wear. With the two independent Mechanisms and the Toy Soldier wailing on her, she was forced to retreat until her back was pressed against the wall.
The same wall the airlock was on.
Jonny couldn’t stop to think. His blood coated the floor, but with a scream of rage he threw himself at the controls.
Deja vu much? Hah, no, it was just the only way they’d found that they could affect the doc without the programming kicking in.
“Everyone get back!” He screamed. Raphaella disengaged immediately, dragging Marius out of the fray by the back of his vest. The others crowded by the door and braced themselves as Jonny slammed his back into the controls again.
Carmilla turned to him, snarling, blood dripping down a rapidly straightening nose.
“You can’t possibly think that'll work again. What do I have to do for you to-”
The airlock opened.
And Jonny realized something very important:
In this part of the ship, the airlock controls were directly next to the opening instead of on the other side of the room, as was sensible.
He was too close.
As he was sucked into the vast wastes of space, he allowed himself a moment to laugh. Considering their last album, it was almost poetic. And the stars claim them both. Of course, that was more applicable to those that were capable of dying from such a jaunt into space.
And then he felt a hand grab his leg.
He must have blacked out in between, because the next thing he remembered was lying on the floor of the cargo bay, Ashes standing over him with genuine concern on their normally neutral face. They turned away to call the others as he struggled to his feet.
Nastya didn’t stop to ask questions, to explain or anything else.
She just ran up and wrapped herself bodily around Jonny, holding on for dear life. He leaned into the contact, wrapping his arm around her as he motioned Ivy, Ashes and Brian over. They were each all holding on to each other already.
It wasn’t the time or place for posturing or for violence. That could and would come later.
For now, all they had and all they needed was the reassurance that they were alive. They were safe.
They were together.